5.11.2009

Hello everyone! Long time, no, see, speak or hear. Yes, a long absence, i know. However, its been one insane week after another. Some things to note:

1) I passed my final thesis with so much ease, it was awesome. My committee loved it, I could answer all of the tough questions, and my images were worth the 10+ hours of rendering... each. If you knew me the first year of architecture school 3 years ago, you will understand just how amazing this is-- back then I called home almost every night, in tears about how I was going to drop out, hated architecture and missed home. However, lots of all-nighters, great guidance and poor fast-food eating habits helped me to achieve a project that not only made my committee happy, but proved that no matter what I believed 3 years ago, I am NOW a competent designer. Below you can see a few pictures from my final study:

(The picture on the upper right is the building's existing condition. The main image is my proposed condition)

(night view looking in the other direction, at the new bar addition)

(The proposed gallery space in the industrial building. I previously posted about my initial rendering of this space. The image in the upper right had corner is the existing view of the space. The largest image is the proposed reuse)

So yay for being done! Passing my final study then lead to my next update:

2) GRADUATION!! I have my masters degree, thank Heavens. Here's a picture of me after the hooding:

It was a blast and very bittersweet. I am so happy to be done, but I know I'm going to miss this time in my life for one reason or another.

4) After graduation, it was time to pack everything up and move everything about 7 hours east to my fiance and I's new hometown... now for him and in September for me: New Orleans. It is absolutely an amazing city and for the first time in my life I've visited a place and haven't ever wanted to leave. We got to catch up with friends, both new and old who now call this amazing place home, so Bama Boy and I are really looking forward to starting our life off there together in September. The lucky guy gets a head start on me though, since he gets to live there now while I have to wait. We didn't take a lot of pictures b/c we were pretty absorbed by finding a temporary place for my fiance to live til the wedding, but I know more pictures will come the next time I visit/ when I officially move there. One thing to note: the 3 course breakfast at Brennan's is a must.... it is a day's worth of calories at one meal, but oh my goodness it is so amazing (Brennan's is the restaurant that invented Banana's Foster in the '50s).
So here I am back in Virginia working after a crazy month of graduating, moving to a new city and spending time w/ extended family in New Jersey. The next adventure? Diving head-first into planning a big party (more commonly referred to as a "wedding") in less than 100 days.... so here we go!

about yours truly

an almost-architect turned housewife living abroad. A restless spirit, purveyor of culture, style, design and the simple things; an innocent victim of clumsiness and confusion. Really I'm just trying to make it to tomorrow in one piece with a smile on my face.